Among more than 100 local projects for which U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott recently sought funding earmarks in the coming federal budget are a new cancer-research program, municipal road projects and a law-enforcement initiative to combat gang violence.

Also included on the Seattle Democrat's 2010 appropriations wish list is a relatively modest  but curious  appeal:

A $250,000 request to fund a "window repair and limestone sill replacement" at The Rainier Club  one of Seattle's premier private clubs, whose members include some of the city's most well-heeled and politically connected residents.

McDermott's request on behalf of The Rainier Club would match the $250,000 raised by club members to cover renovations at the club's 105-year-old brick building on Fourth Avenue in downtown Seattle.

The club  which provides wood-paneled dining halls, a health and fitness club, a library and private bedrooms where members can stay overnight  has about 1,200 members who pay $191 per month in membership dues, said Michael Troyer, the club's chief operating officer.

A McDermott aide, who said Friday the congressman was on a flight to Seattle and unavailable for comment, called the private club's request "a fair project to submit for funding" that had nothing to do with political back-scratching.

"They made the case that it's a historic building in our home city, and they had tried to raise the money themselves but fell short," Mike DeCesare said. "It was a significant argument."

Representatives for the club said Friday the need for renovations is real and immediate. Limestone window sills are eroding, causing water seepage and damaging structural timbers for the part of the historic building that dates to 1904.

But after more than a year of fundraising, the club has gathered only half the $500,000 needed to cover repairs, Troyer said.

A McDermott aide, who said Friday the congressman was on a flight to Seattle and unavailable for comment, called the private club's request "a fair project to submit for funding" that had nothing to do with political back-scratching.

I wonder how he would describe an unfair project? Lower taxes for the masses, less government,term limits?

12
posted on 06/22/2009 9:49:21 AM PDT
by Don Corleone
("Oil the gun..eat the cannolis. Take it to the Mattress.")

... has about 1,200 members who pay $191 per month in membership dues...

I make that about $2.75 million per year in dues. I'd guess they take in a bunch more for booze. I would also hazard a guess that $191/mo is sofa cushion change for the members. And yet we the taxpayers are expected to foot the bill to repair a joint they wouldn't even let us in!!!

Right. And I’m sure with the skills and means that must exist among the current membership, they could come up with all kinds of ways to raise the money without having to go on their own particularly pernicious form of the dole. But it looks like the welfare state mentality has caught on and created shiftlessness even among the rich.

Politics is a strange world. A world of unfathomable ego, arrogance, and selfishness. Rarely has that been so clearly displayed than it was this week in a Politico story about Congressman Jim McDermott’s scheduler/office manager Elizabeth Becton.

I have always found Jim McDermott to be one of the most arrogant politicians I’ve ever met. It is clear that attitude permeates his DC office.

A PR rep tried to schedule a meeting with her client and McDermott. But she made the unforgivable mistake of calling Becton “Liz”. The unbelievable e-mail exchange follows.

If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you. I think it’s rude when people don’t even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name. This is a real sore spot with me. My name has a lot of “nicknames” which I don’t use. I use either my first name or my last name because I row with a lot of other women who share the same first name. Now, please do not ever call me by a nickname again.

As for your meeting request, who is the point of contact for this meeting? If it’s not you, then I need to know who because it’s very time-consuming to deal with a lot of people for one meeting.

Let me put it this way, they don’t know me and perhaps they were PRETENDING to know me better than they do and pretended that I go by Liz. They did YOU a disservice.

In the future, you should be VERY careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in DC. It’s a past time for some. It’s also dangerous to eaves drop, as you have just found out.

Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it’s a hot button for me.

And please don’t call the office and not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away at the Ladies’ room. I do sometimes leave my desk.

From the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party,Nov 2, 2005: "Statement from [Democrat] Jim McDermott, U.S. Congressman from Washington To participants in the World Can't Wait actions today": (rwor.org is the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party)http://rwor.org/a/024/more-voices-from-november-2.htm __________________________________________________

FYI: World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime is a Maoist- revolutionary movement initiated and controlled by the Revolutionary Communist Party (scroll down the list that appears to find the World Can't Wait organization --again, rwor.org is the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party) :http://rwor.org/a/rwlink/links.htm __________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org:

Profile: World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime (WCW)

*Revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration

*Organizes college and high-school students

*Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party

From the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party (revcom.us or rwor.org) :

"Create Public Opinion, Seize Power: We are preparing minds and organizing forces for the time when there is a major crack in the system, whenever it comes and wherever it comes from: an opening that makes it possible to bring the future Revolutionary Army of the Proletariat (R.A.P.) into the field and wage a revolutionary armed struggle that actually has a chance of winning.

And we have said that building our party itself is the most important part of organizing forces for revolution. This is true now, and it is true looking forward to the creation of that future R.A.P. and the waging of that armed struggle.":

World Can’t Wait is a Revolutionary Communist Party front organization. The RCP is not a legitimate political party. Communist Party, USA (CPUSA), which is a recognized political party, seems to attract communists of a slightly different odor. I’ve noticed very few people who team-up with both. CPUSA’s main front group is United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). Workers World Party, another legal political party here in the U.S., has their “anti-war” fronts as well: A.N.S.W.E.R., Troops Out Now, F.I.S.T., International Action Center, etc.

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